Nowadays a largo proportion of cargo is no longer transported by ship but by aircraft. The cargo is transported in cargo units, e.g. containers, to speed up loading and unloading. Daring the flight they must be braced so that they do not move during accelerations and so that the contents of the cargo containers and/or the aircraft are not potentially damaged as a result.
Usually, the cargo hold floor comprises a plurality of locking elements for fixing and guiding the cargo in the cargo hold. Longitudinal locking elements, for example, are used to fix the containers in the aircraft's longitudinal direction (x-direction). The known cargo hold floors and the arrangement of the locking elements attached thereto are mirror-symmetrical with regard to a plane of symmetry which encompasses the aircraft's longitudinal axis and is perpendicular to the cargo hold floor. The plane of symmetry divides the cargo hold into two essentially symmetrical halves in respect of its geometric extension. It is generally accepted that with an increasing number of transportable cargo containers and possible loading configurations, the number of locking elements required rises dramatically. A loading configuration may be defined as a specific arrangement of the cargo containers on the cargo hold floor.
The large number of possible loading configurations, particularly with containers of different sizes, leads to a large number of locking elements being required. The cargo hold floor becomes very heavy due to the large number of locking elements which has an adverse effect on the kerosene consumption and consequently on the operating costs. The disadvantage of cargo hold floors known to date is that they cannot be reconfigured quickly. Since the dimensions of the cargo hold floors in the aircraft are limited, the number of locking elements that can be fastened to the cargo hold floor and consequently the number of potential loading configurations is limited. By reducing the size of the locking elements, it is possible to increase the potential number of locking elements in a cargo hold floor which, however, has a very adverse effect on the ruggedness and load-carrying capacity of the locking elements.